Anyone have any experience buying a car through Costco?

[AgentEL]

Costco Auto

Anyone have any positive or negative experiences buying through Costco?

 

[RossMAN]

http://www.epinions.com/webs-W..._Auto/display_~reviews

 

[paulney]

Mixed reviews... Anybody with an actual experience here?

 

[RossMAN]

When we buy our next car in 6-8 cars I'll probably give it a try.

 

[Tremulant]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
When we buy our next car in 6-8 cars I'll probably give it a try.

Do you mean months?

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Tremulant

Originally posted by: RossMAN
When we buy our next car in 6-8 cars I'll probably give it a try.

Do you mean months?

Oops meant to type years, sorry posting on 12 different forums at once sometimes gets to me 🙂

 

[axelfox]

How's the return policy on cars? 🙂

 

[jadinolf]

OK. In 1997 a friend told me to go to Costco because they will offer the best price. The sent me to a nearby Toyota dealership which told me that they would suppy the car at $1000 over invoice. I checked with 4 other dealerships (unusual for me) and the highest priced one was the one that Costco sent me to.

For you local guys I bought my car a Thousand Oaks (CA) Toyota.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I did a lot of research reading up on the Edmund's car forums under the "prices paid and buying experience" topic for my specific car model. From that I learned how to negotiate the out-the-door price from several dealerships via email. The experience was excellent, and I'll do it again when I buy my next car.

I bought a fully loaded (except for navigation) Accord coup in my choice of color in March for about $300 over invoice. I spent about an hour at the dealership doing the test drive, inspection, and signing the papers. That was it. I dealt with one guy (the fleet manager), and the price was agreed upon before I arrived.


I tried to go through Costco at the same time. I filled out the Costco questionaire, and it appears that they simply handed my info over to a local dealership (Santa Barbara Honda is well known to be slimey). The salesman wouldn't tell me anything (nothing at all!) over the phone or by email. He just wanted to know when I'd be coming in.

He only stopped calling when I told him I already bought the car elsewhere.

 

[Shawn]

Costco sells cars? 😕

 

[MazerRackham]

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer
I did a lot of research reading up on the Edmund's car forums under the "prices paid and buying experience" topic for my specific car model. From that I learned how to negotiate the out-the-door price from several dealerships via email. The experience was excellent, and I'll do it again when I buy my next car.

I bought a fully loaded (except for navigation) Accord coup in my choice of color in March for about $300 over invoice. I spent about an hour at the dealership doing the test drive, inspection, and signing the papers. That was it. I dealt with one guy (the fleet manager), and the price was agreed upon before I arrived.


I tried to go through Costco at the same time. I filled out the Costco questionaire, and it appears that they simply handed my info over to a local dealership (Santa Barbara Honda is well known to be slimey). The salesman wouldn't tell me anything (nothing at all!) over the phone or by email. He just wanted to know when I'd be coming in.

He only stopped calling when I told him I already bought the car elsewhere.

I also went through fleet sales when I bought my Acura. It was short and sweet.

To the OP, just call up a few dealers and see which have fleet sales, and then speak with the fleet sales manager. Those guys/gals usually already know how low they're willing to go on most models. I got my price over the phone as well.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Supercharged
Costco sells cars? 😕

No, they just send you to a local dealership which supposedly gives you a good price.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: jadinolf

Originally posted by: Supercharged
Costco sells cars? 😕

No, they just send you to a local dealership which supposedly gives you a good price.

yeah really :roll:

the suzuki on the intro page should have been a big enough hint.....

 

[psiu]

So......fleet sales is the way to go? I take it that they only deal with new vehicles though, correct?

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Tremulant

Originally posted by: RossMAN
When we buy our next car in 6-8 cars I'll probably give it a try.

Do you mean months?

Oops meant to type years, sorry posting on 12 different forums at once sometimes gets to me 🙂

I thought you meant buying the cars in bulk quantities, like everything else at costco.